Treatment of textile materials



y 1935- c. DREYFUS ET AL 2,000,935

TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed, Oct. 23, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTORS CAMILLE DREYFUS WILLIAM WHITEHEAD BY ATTORNIEY$ May'14, 1935.- v c. DREYFUS ETAL, 2,000,935

TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS 7 Filed Oct. 23, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'INVENTORS CAMILLE DREYFUS WILLIAM WHITEHEAD ATTORNEYS yib ww Patented May 14,1935

umrso STATES PATENT, OFFICE 2.000.935 murmur or 'mx'rnn ira'rnarans I Camille Dreyfus, New York, N. Y.. and William Whitehead, Cumberland, Md assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application October as, 1931,8erlalblo. sussit' Claims. This invention relates to the treatment of textile materials and relates more particularly to the local application to yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose of a substance adapted to modify the same. 4

An object of our invention is to prepare yarns or other textile materials having'a modlfy w substance applied thereto at irregularlyspaced intervals. Other objects of our invention will app ar in the following detailed. description.

It has been previously proposed to appl'y'dye- 'stufls to yam at regularly spaced intervals and such yarn has been employed for making fabrics'having variegated eflects. However, since both the length ofthe' color streaks and their intervening spaces were regular in'the prior practice, when hose is k'nit from such yarn," a spiral eifect is produced, and when a fabric is woven from such yarn 'fl -W00d-mil1" eil'ect results. We have found that this is due to the fact that in the case of knitting hose, for instance,,the.

streaks and intervals, which never can be exact multiples or. factors of the. circumference of the throughout the knitting operation, and thus the pattern may start being broken up, that is givin:- a so-called heather? effect and then work into a series of spiral lines running around the hose, which then cease to spiral and whalewisea short distance down thehose and then the spiral may reverse itself producing a woodgrain eilect if a long length of hose is knitted.

We'have found that if the dyeing or modifying substance is applied to the yarn or other I and spaced at intervals of irregular length, a fabric woven or knitted therefrom presents a uniformly scattered or broken up eilect and not having any definite effect or pattern as in the case when the modifying substance is applied ular intervals. s i In accordance with our invention we apply to textile materials intermittently and at irregular-e ly spaced intervals while they are in transit, a substance adapted to modify their properties.

hose, cannot'continue to form the same pattern textile material in streaks of irregular length at reg- This invention is applicable to the treatment to obtain a multiplicity of effects. Furthermore, warps may be treated similarly during their winding to obtain the many diflerent effects,

while. this invention is of particular importance in connection with the. treatment of yarn 5 containing cellulose acetate, other yarns may be treated. Such yarns as may be made of organic derivatives of cellulose such as organic esters of cellulose or cellulose ethcrs. Examples of -organic esters of cellulose are cellulose formats, cel- 1o 'lulose propionate and cellulose butyrate; while examples of cellulose ethers are ethyl cellulose. methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose. Other yarns such as cotton, wool, silk or reconstituted cellulose maylikewlse be treated by this inven- 5 tion, as may be mixed yarns containing filaments of organicderlvatives of cellulose and fibers of cotton, wool, silk .or reconstituted cellulose.

As stated the modifying a ent is applied to the yarn r textile material at irregularly spaced go intervals, the length of the streaks and the inspaces being each preferablydiflerent. We prefer to adjust the'operation of the applicationof the modified streaks and their interven ing spaces'so that each mechanical cycle em' bracing a complete range of variationsdoes not approximate or equal the width of the fabric that is tobe woven-orthelen'gth of yarnin one course of knitted fabric or hose material fabricatedfromsuchyarm' H The modify e agent may be applied intermittently to the yarn while it is in transit from a package such as a bobbin, cone, and the-like to another package. Likewise the modifyi agent .may be applied to the yarn while it is in '35 transit from the spinning cabinet in which it is formed to a winding device'or to a device that both winds and twists the same.

The modifying agent as applied my home that changes the color of the textile material. 40 changes its properties, or changes other of its physicalor chemical properties. a By way of example the following modifying substances are enumerated.

y The modifying substance maybe in the form of a paste or solutionof a dyestuff dissolved in water or a suitable organic solvent such as bensens, alcohol, etc. If desired a plurality of different colors may be applied by different rurnishing devices to theyarn while it is in transit. Inthe case of textlle materials containing cel-I lulose acetate or other organic esters of cellulose, the modifying substance may comprise a saponitying agent which may be q us alcoholic or solution of sodium, hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium or potassium carbonate, sodium silicate or trisodium phosphate; e. g. 2 to of sodium hydroxide in a mixture of equal parts of ethyl or methyl alcohol and water. This saponifying agent saponifies at least part of the cellulose acetate to form regenerated cellulose and when the yarn so treated is subjected to a dyeing bath containing direct-cotton dyes'the saponified portions become dyed while the untreated or unsapom'fied portions remain undyed. If desired, in the case of-treatment of materials .containing cellulose acetate or other orexamples of which are the materials described in ganic esters of cellulose, the modifying substance may comprise a liquid containing both a saponifying agent and dyestuif having an affinity for cotton, cellulose or saponified cellulose, asgis more fully described in our application No. 535,860, filed May 8, 1931. a

Yarn previously dyed may have. a modifying agent intermittently applied thereto, which agent contains a discharge or stripping agent, so that the treated portion has the color removed therefrom. If desired color discharges may be used for this purpose. In the case of treatment of yarn containing cellulose acetate or other organic derivatives of cellulose, a modifying sub-1 stance containing the discharge agent may also. contain a swelling agent for the derivatives of.

cellulose such as ethyl alcohol, phenol, lactate acetate, pyridine, etc.

The modifying agent supplied intermittently -may be in the form of a 'reserve or resist.

Mechanical reserves such as waxes may be employed or chemical reserves may likewise be employed. Melted waxes, e. g. a mixture of refined ground nut oil and hardened whale oil, are very.

suitable as mechanical resists. After application of the reserves or resists, the yarn may be dyed leaving the reserved portions uncolored; 40

The modifying agent applied intermittently may be comprised of a loading or weighting agent,

British Patents Nos. 258,874 and 260,290 and U, S. Patents 1,761,707 of June 3 1930, 1,821,464 ofSept. 1, 1931 and 1,817,741 of August 4, 1931. After app ication of the loading or weightins material, it is desirable to allow the yarn to stand for some time before applying a fixing mayarn to produce irregularity in the stitch shape of. the knitted goods, or irregularity in the ability to take-twist in highly twisted crepe yarn and thus enhance the crepe effect of crepe fabrics and yet obtain a scattered variation ofeifect.

By our invention there is produced yarn from which fabrics may be formed, which-fabrics have a uniformly scattered. muiti-color or other effect without the appearance of change in pat tern with the development of wood-grain or like efiects. While any suitable devicemay be employed for applying the modifying substance at irregular in- An upwardly extending arm I! is secured In a similar manner.

tervals, by way of example, but without being limited thereto, a few preferred forms are shown in the annexed drawings wherein:

.Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of for yin outthis invention. g i i Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view-of the device shownin Fig. 1. i. f

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of another form of device for carrying out this invention.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a third modification; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the modification shown in Fig. 4.

Refening to the drawings, the yarns A are drawn from the supply of bobbins l and the tendevice sion device 2 to the take-up bobbin 3 to which it is fed by guides on the traverse bar I. The trough 5 containing the bath of dye, sa'ponifying agent,

or other modifying agent as above described is provided, and a rotating pick-up or furnishing roller 6 is mounted therein to supply the modifying agent to the yarns when they are pressed into contact therewith. The roller 6 is driven by a belt engaging its pulley I. I

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a rocker shaft 8 having guides 9 for the yarn A is provided near the furnishing roller 6. g This rocker shaft 8 hassecured thereto an outwardly extending arm I. which is pressed downwardly'bythe sprig: e rocker shaft 8 and this carried a roller I! which presses against the periphery of the rotating cam ll. It will be noted that the periphery of the cam M has depressions and projections whichare irregular in size and spacing.

In the operation of the device in Figs. -1 and 2, theyamAisdrawnfromthebobbins l tothe winding bobbins 3. The guides 9 on the rocker shaft 8 raise or lower the yarns A out of and into contact with the roller 6 furnishing the modifying liquid from the trough 5. As the roller l3 bears against a depression on the cam II, the

guides 9 raise the yarns A out of contact with V the furnishing roller 6, whilst when the roller II bears against a projection on the com I, the guides 9 lower the yarns A into contact with the furnishing roller 6. I

By way of example, it is pointed out that if the yarns are being wound at the rate of 100 meters per nute,- the cam ll may be cut in such a manner and rotated at such a speed that the following alternations of length of streak of applied dye saponif or other modifying agent and spaced intervals results; the length being given in centimeter.

' This particular combination of scan (1111-1 tervals is particularly suitable for yarns to be used for the knitting of men's hose where the course in the fabric comprises a length of yarn approximating one meter. By the use of this particular combination a thoroughly broken up modified effect may be obtained.

Referring to Fig. 3, which shows another form of device for obtaining an intermittentapplica tion of modifying, liquid'there is provided anendless chain or belt is which is caused to rotate around therollers l1 and Il. Upon this chainor belt I there are molmted projecting pieces ll of different lengths and spaced at intervals of different lengths. when under the yarn A, the projections" raise the yarnA- out of contact with L the mmishing -rol ler hand when a part of the 7 2,000,935 chain I! having no projection is'under the yarn AIthe yarn comes in contact with roller 0 and the modifying liquid in the trough U is applied thereto.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 5, a rotating paddle 2| havingarms'li adaptedtopresstheyarna against the furnishing roller 6 isprovided. This paddle is rotated by the conical pulley 12 which is engaged by the endless belt 23, driven by the oppositely disposed conicalpuliey 2|. The pulley 14 is driven by a belt 25 that engages a pulley on the rotating shaft 26. In order to change the rate of speed of rotation of the paddle II, the driving belt 23 is shifted back and forth by means of a shifter 21. This shifter 21 is actuated by a lever 28 which in turn is reciprocated by the arm 29 driven by a crank on the gear wheel 30 which is engaged by the worm gear II.

It is understood that the foregoingdetailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having deecrihedour invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

' 1. Method of treating yarns or other textile materialwhieh comprises applying to yarn or textile material, while it is travelling, at continuously and progressively varying intervals a sullstance adapted to modify the dyeing properties thereof.

3. Method of treating yarns or other textile material which comprises p at continuously and progressively varying intervals the yarn or textile material, while it is travelling, into con:- tact with a substance adapted to modify the properties thereof.

CAMILLE DRlEYFUS.

WILLIAM 

